Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-08-18
TURKISH FUNERALS.
DEATH AND BURIAL IN THE LAND
OF THE CRESCENT.

The Corpse Plentifully sprinkled with
Hot Water, and Then Carried to the
eteries and Tombs.
If a Turk dies, or looks as if he was dead.
no physician, no Inspector, comes 80 make
sure that death has really taken place; but if
it has not the fact will soon be established.
thanks to procedure more efficient than all
the gentle and refined means in vogue in the
| west to make sure that the deceased is not
| hoa1ing his heirs.
Scarcely has the last breath been taken
when the corpse is lifted up violently by Wig
orous arms, the clothing snatched off, laid on
the hagstones in the mortuary chamber or
vestibule, and besprinkled with hot water,
which is thrown upon it by the imam, pro-
vided with large pail. The sprinkling is re-
| peated two or three times, so that the family
run little danger of seeing the deceased resus-
| citated.
Thus scalded as a preliminary step, the
body is washed and dried. Then it is be-
powdered with camphor, and after being
covered with cloth embroidered with verses
| from the Koran, it is exposed for several hours
| in the courtyard. Afterward the imam returns
and accompanies the corpse to its last resting
place.
CARRYING THE COFFIN
The fiat, covered bier is usually carried on
the shoulders of friends of the deceased, or
upon those of hired pail bearers. Sometimes
strangers assume this duty gratuitously, look
ing upon it as a pious and meritorious act.
The cortege is made up only of those that
hl hyrf
another without stopping. The coffin is made
Of cedar, and it is seldom vanished, but it is
covered with a rug or shawl and there is
placed at the head turban or a fez if the
deceased is male.
The procession always moves hastily, not
for the purpose of getting rid of the dismal
burden, but to hasten the moment when de-
ceased shall enjoy eternal repose; for the
Mussulman believes that the soul is restless
and unhappy as long as the corpse is IN
buried. This is why three or four hours only
elapse between death and burial
On arriving at the cemetery, the imam so
places the bier that the face of the deceased
is turned toward Mecca; he then approaches
the brink of the grave and utters very long
prayer, the conclusion of which is as follows:
"Draw near, Mounkir and Nekir, angels of
death and ministers of Allah Great and
blessed God, we humbly beseech thee to
make the earth light for thy servant. May
he find grace and mercy with thee Amen"
A Christians prayer does not say anything
more nor any better.
THE SYSTEM OF SCULPTURE.
According to the Koran, the deceased is the
owner of his grave in perpetuity. and the OBJ
jectionable system of sepulture in rotation is
unknown to the Mussulmans; and in Con-
stantinople, in Eyoub and Scutari, the room
occupied by cemeteries is almost as extensive
as that covered by dwellings. Within recent
years it has been found necessary, in order to
open roads that have been much needed, to
curtall and even suppress some of the ceme-
teries, but it required an express order from
the sultan, which made the uleinas utter the
wall of bigots.
The cypress is pre-eminently the funeral |
tree. Each tomb has to have its own And |
Turkish cemeteries become gloomy forests In |
time, which impart to certain oriental land |
scapes an aspect singularly stiff and somber. |
1t is upon the seashore that these funeral for
ests are found in the greatest abundance. The |
trees, being nourished by the soil fertilized by |
human remains, reach prodigious size and |
height. The largest and most celebrated OF
IleSe cemeteries is JDaG OF ScuUdrl, upon the |
Asiatic coast of the BOsphorus; it extends
over an area more than SIX miles square
The tombstones are in the shape of an oval,
wider at the top than the bottom, and sur
mounted with turban or fez, the form Of
which, varying greatly, indicates the rank of
the deceased. A gilt inscription in Turkish
characters cut in relief on a blue back
ground, gives the name and enumerates the
virtues of the deceased, and implores divine
mercy in his behalf. These stones are some
times perpendicular, sometimes leaning very
much. In the latter case hole is dug at
the base of the tomb, intended to catch rain
for the little birds that come to quench their
thirst.
The dead are not buried very deep. and it
Is strange that the custom does not cause
more sickness than it does. A large proper
ton OF the epidemics OF dysentery and ty-
phoid fever that invade the low quarters Of
can be traced to this custom.
The proximity of the cadavers to the top Of
the ground produce. during the summer
night, particularly in swampy and damp
q myriad of phosphorescent
lights, which dance and fit around the
tombs, and those myriad sparks of fire,
while inspiring the poets, also brighten chill
dren.-E Emile Julliard in The Cosmopolitan.
The Gypsies in America.